Professor McGonagall's words filled the whole school with a joyful atmosphere after breakfast.
So much so that in the morning's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, most of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students were whispering to each other; no one paid attention to Professor Lockhart and Miss Melinda Bobin demonstrating how to subdue a werewolf with bare hands.
"Just like this, grab the werewolf's right paw... Beautiful movement, Miss Bobbin..." Professor Lockhart explained loudly at the podium.
"I didn't expect that Slytherin's monster would be a giant snake. It's so scary!" Behind Jon, Eloise Midgen was whispering to Zacharias Smith: "I don't think such a scary thing will happen again in Hogwarts..."
"Absolutely sure!" Zacharias said confidently, "I can't imagine that there would be a creature more terrifying than a giant snake in the school!"
After more than an hour, the boring Defense Against the Dark Arts class finally came to an end.
When Professor Lockhart announced the end of get out of class and the students filed out, Jon Hart deliberately slowed down, stayed alone, and walked towards the podium.
"What's the matter, Jon?" Gilderoy Lockhart's voice was light and he sounded in a good mood.
...
...
"Yes, Professor Lockhart." Jon said calmly, "I was just reading your book Wandering with Werewolves in class and ran into a little trouble... I didn't quite understand the magical principle of how silver can restrain werewolves!"
"Oh, really!" Professor Lockhart blinked.
"So... I want to go to the library to borrow two related books. Unfortunately, they are both in the restricted area." Jon said as he handed over the note in his hand.
He used the same trick again, but this time Lockhart was not as careless as last time. He actually lowered his head to take a look at the note.
"Under the Shadow of the Moon, written by Morka Trefford. My god, why does this author's name sound familiar!" Professor Lockhart muttered to himself, "There is also a book called Summon the Joy in Your Heart... My god, it's actually a book about Dementors. No wonder it's in the restricted area..."
Jon was well prepared, and said calmly, "Yes, Mr. Newt Scamander mentioned in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that werewolves and Dementors may have a certain relationship, so I want to learn a little from the characteristics of Dementors."
"Really... No, I mean I already knew this!" Professor Lockhart was stunned for a moment, then quickly said: "Jon, don't tell anyone that you are learning spells about Dementors. This will make some people in the Ministry of Magic think that you have ill intentions..."
Jon was stunned, then nodded.
"Of course, as a teacher, I will definitely not stop my best students from their thirst for knowledge and exploration!" Professor Lockhart took out a large peacock feather pen and wrote on the note.
"Thank you, Professor. You are the best!"
…
After leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Jon immediately went to the library.
But this time, Madam Pince was far less easy to talk to than before.
She took the note and read it over and over again. She held the note close to the light, trying to find any signs of forgery, but she failed. Ten minutes later, Madam Pince returned with two large, old books.
"These are the two!" she said coldly.
"Thank you, ma'am!"
Jon carefully put both books back into his bag and left as if nothing had happened.
Now that the basilisk was dead, even though there were still more than four months left in the first year, he should prepare for the "accidents" that might occur at Hogwarts in his second year.
As he expected, the Patronus Charm was classified as a "forbidden spell" by the Ministry of Magic. After all, Dementors are still employees of the Ministry of Magic... They would not allow criminals to easily control the spells against these "civil servants".
Books about werewolves are easy to find, but most of them are about how to deal with and eliminate werewolves... When faced with a "moderate" werewolf like Lupin, Jon feels that there is no need to go to great lengths in this regard; after all, Lupin will not bite people casually under normal circumstances, so just remember not to go out on a full moon night.
Due to his professional habit, he was more concerned about the difference in physiological structure between werewolves and ordinary people, which had made the pathogenic mechanism of wolfsbane pathogens... Books on this subject were not easy to find, and he spent a lot of effort to find one in the banned books area.
The second year (the third year of the three saviors) can be said to be the most stable year in Hogwarts in the next few years.
Even though Black was notorious now, he was not a bad guy at all and could not pose any threat. He did not have a tragic past like Harry Potter and would not attract much interest from the Dementors. Unless Peter pushed him into a corner, he was just a harmless little mouse..
And it was very easy to break out of this year. Just find an opportunity, use Polyjuice Potion to turn into Neville Longbottom, go to the door of the Gryffindor common room, and tell others that you forgot the password. After sneaking in, shoot Peter dead, and that's it! There is no need to play the subsequent plot. Without Peter, Voldemort would not have to work so hard to be resurrected through the Goblet of Fire...
However, this method still has certain risks. First of all, Peter is an adult wizard who has received some of Voldemort's true teachings. His fighting ability is definitely not comparable to that of a second-year student... Moreover, when forced into a desperate situation, even ants can bite people, let alone mice.
More importantly...how will the subsequent plot progress?
Even if Peter never expected that Neville Longbottom, the man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would suddenly change his demeanor, pull out a gun and shoot him in the head... and then Peter would die, so wouldn't Voldemort be resurrected?
Impossible, Voldy has six horcruxes, and resurrection is inevitable...
After repeated thoughts, Jon felt that instead of waiting for Voldemort to be resurrected through unknown means, which would bring about unknown consequences, it would be better to continue to watch the original plot develop, wait for the savior to kill him, and then he could stay on the side and make a fortune in silence.
…
He skipped and ran towards the Hufflepuff common room.
As he walked down the stairs to the first floor of the castle, he met a young girl with blond curly hair.
"Mr. Hart..." the girl stopped and said softly.
"What's the matter?" Jon asked coldly, "Miss Greengrass."
"Well... Professor Snape said he would be waiting for you in his office at 1:15 p.m.... He invites you to have a cup of afternoon tea." Miss Daphne Greengrass reminded.
The smile on Jon Hart's face froze in an instant.
And the brain started thinking rapidly...
What the hell?
Snape invited him to have a cup of afternoon tea?
Why didn't he remember that Snape had the habit of having afternoon tea?
However, Daphne the bitch did not give him the opportunity to learn more details and almost turned around and ran away.
Jon glanced at his watch. It was already 12:45, less than half an hour before the time agreed with Snape.
There was no time to waste, and he was well aware of the consequences of being late when facing Snape.
Jon hurried to the dining hall, ate something quickly, and then hurried to the basement.
...
...
At around 1:10 p.m., he arrived in front of Snape's office. After pausing for a moment and taking a deep breath, Jon pushed the door open.
This is a very dim little room, with bookshelves on both sides filled with hundreds of various glass slides; sticky animal and plant specimens floating in colorful potions.
These specimens, which looked a bit "creepy", did not make Jon Hart feel any discomfort at all. Instead, they felt somewhat familiar... The human specimens, diseased tissue specimens, parasite specimens and the like that he had come into contact with in his previous life were much more "disgusting" than these.
But the familiar smell of formaldehyde was no longer in the air, which made him feel a little nostalgic.
As I stopped in front of a sow's uterus specimen and examined it carefully, the office door was pushed open.
"You're early, Mr. Hart!" Severus Snape's cold voice came from the darkness at the door.
"I'm sorry, Professor." Jon quickly averted his gaze.
"sit down!"
Following Snape's order, Jon sat down quietly; Snape also walked to the light and sat opposite Jon.
"Aren't you afraid of them?" Snape asked casually after taking a look at the specimen racks.
"Of course!" Jon nodded and answered honestly, "I just thought they were very friendly, so I took a few more glances at them."
"A sense of intimacy?" Snape's pale lips slightly twitched, then said coldly: "That's good... Hart, now go cut off a piece of the five-legged beast's heart for me, the sixth row, the fourth column on the specimen stand."
"Okay, Professor!" Jon quickly stood up and put on a pair of dragon-skin gloves placed on the shelf. He climbed onto the stool next to him, and with some effort, Jon's thin body moved down the glass bottles filled with dark red liquid.
"What's the hell in here?" Jon asked curiously.
"Human blood!" Snape said with a gloomy face, "The five-legged beast is a kind of evil magical creature that can suck a large amount of human blood. The blood they suck will be stored in their hearts... Even if the heart is taken out, they can still spit out a large amount of human blood from time to time."
"Is that so?" Jon's face showed no fear or disgust, but instead was full of curiosity... He had already opened the glass bottle: "No wonder I could smell the strong smell of blood."
Snape frowned, staring at the short first-year student in front of him, holding a 20-centimeter-long dagger... reaching into the bottle, calmly grabbed the bloody heart, and began to cut it.
"How much does it cost, Professor Snape?" Jon asked while operating without changing his expression.
"Ten sickles."
Five minutes later, Jon had cut off a piece of myocardium from the five-legged beast the size of a wine glass, placed it on an iron plate, and handed it to Snape.
Even though only a part of it was cut off, the myocardium continued to wriggle and spurt out blood... The entire Potions teacher's office became covered in blood, and Jon and Snape were also stained with a lot of blood.
"Is this all right, Professor?" Jon asked quietly.
"Hmph!" The old bat snorted coldly, then took out his magic wand and waved it lightly. The bloodstains on his clothes and the table were wiped away, and the piece of myocardium that was cut off also flew into another glass bottle.
"Sit down!" Snape ordered again.
Jon curled his lips and sat down obediently.
…
"Do you need something to drink?" the old bat said coldly.
"No... Professor..." Jon said stutteringly.
Not to mention that he had just experienced such a bloody scene, drinking afternoon tea now would make him feel a little sick; not to mention who would dare to taste the drink provided by a potion master. If there was something strange added to it, he would be doomed.
Fortunately, Snape did not insist on this.
"I wrote a letter to 'Sieg's Potion Shop' in Diagon Alley, and they told me that you bought some bicorn horn powder and boomslang skin from them more than three months ago?" Snape asked again.
"Yes, Professor!" Jon replied without surprise.
"Then may I know what potion you purchased these materials for?" All Snape heard was a sneer of contempt.
"Bicorn horn powder is used to prepare the slow-moving potion, and African tree snake skin is an important ingredient for preparing the nightmare potion!" Jon responded calmly again: "I didn't find these two herbs in the medicine cabinet in the potion class, so I had to ask for help from Diagon Alley."
"Those are potions that only third and fourth graders can get access to!" Snape growled sternly, "So, your configuration was not successful...right, Hart?"
"Of course not!" Jon showed a trace of fear on his face, and then shook his head: "If my judgment is correct, I should have succeeded... I put the finished products of the two potions in the cabinet with my name on it in the Potions Class."
Snape was stunned. He paused for a moment before saying, "I will verify this!"
"Okay, Professor." Looking at Snape's dark, empty eyes, Jon looked at him fearlessly.
"Are you sure you're not lying?"
"I am sure, sir!"
…
After several minutes, Severus Snape looked away.
"I don't think you're lying." He said calmly.
Jon couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief. All his efforts had been well worth it after so many cover-ups and secretive actions.
"Severus! Severus!" A familiar voice came from outside the door, interrupting the conversation between Jon and Snape.
"I heard that you actually invited a student to have afternoon tea... How rare, Severus, I didn't expect you to have such a hobby!"
That cheerful voice, with a very clear definition...
It was Gilderoy Lockhart.